Fortified Arctic infrastructure needed in face of climate change: study
Posted January 16, 2019 1:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A detailed study of climate change and the North suggests the impact on roads and other infrastructure will be even more severe than anticipated.
John Pomeroy of the University of Saskatchewan says projections in the newly published paper are the most precise ever made.
He says they show significant threats to crucial links such as the Dempster Highway, the only road from southern Canada to the Arctic coast.
The study predicts that by the end of the century, temperatures will have risen by six degrees, permafrost will retreat or disappear and flood-causing stream flows will almost double.
Pomeroy says the findings show that any new infrastructure in the North will have to be reinforced and redesigned to withstand the impacts of climate change.
Last year, the federal government promised $570 million over 10 years to build new roads and for other community projects.
Pomeroy says his research group will soon release projections for other parts of Canada.
The Canadian Press
